February 26, 2014

(Hilariously Tragicomic) Fashion News Round Up

Kering - the French luxury-to-lifestyle conglomerate formerly known as PPR led by chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault and controlling brands such as Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane, Pomellato and Brioni - recently reported a 95.2 per cent drop in net profit in 2013.

Though Bottega Veneta and Yves Saint Laurent sold quite well, sales at Gucci and Puma recorded weak performances.

According to Kering, the setback was foreseen and was caused by the charges to withdraw from retailing and mail-order, and refocus the business on its high-end luxury products and markets.

Yet you don't need a financial expert to point out the reasons behind Kering's slump and Gucci's weak performance.

Why calling a financial expert indeed when you can easily explain losses by just looking at this picture showing Salma Hayek at Gucci's Autumn/Winter 2014 catwalk show? Carnival is around the corner in Italy, but Salma Hayek anticipated it in Milan, clad in Gucci from head to toe and managing to look simply unstylish.

Hard to say if it's more offensive one specific item in her outfit or the entire outfit, but, if Hayek looks shit in luxury clothes, it's probably not her fault. It's indeed the fault of the luxury clothes she is wearing and the time to call the fashion police has come.

In the meantime, Kering has announced that there will be an "ambitious" relaunch of the Puma brand this year after the sponsorship deal with Arsenal and its plans to raise the brand visibility during the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament in Brazil. Which in fashion lingo usually means: a celebrity elected as Creative Director and a collaboration with a high profile blogger who licks everybody's feet. Isn't language fabulous?

New Partnership, New Protégé, Old Acquisition Strategy

Youthquake has been the keyword at Milan Fashion Week. As the event started, a new Italian government led by centre-left politician Matteo Renzi was being formed and, as the fashion event closed, the government was sworn in. At 39 Renzi is the youngest Prime Minister in Italian history. His faults? Well, apart from a rather annoying Twitter addiction, he considers Tony Blair a role model (proving he is definitely not left wing...) and his language also belongs to the semantic field of marketing rather than politics.

Anyway, maybe encouraged by this Italian future "youthquake" (in marketing not in politics...), LVMH bought a "significant" minority in Marco De Vincenzo's label.

The partnership was spearheaded by LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault's daughter, Delphine. De Vincenzo who has worked as a consultant for Fendi, where he worked in accessories, launched his eponymous label in 2009. He is the latest young designer to join the dark forces of fashion - pardon - the conglomerate after British labels Nicholas Kirkwood, JW Anderson and Christopher Kane, and as Paris-based Maxime Simoens.

LVMH is terribly busy at the moment recruiting more fresh blood around. In May the winner of the LVMH Young Designer Prize will indeed be announced. Launched in November by Delphine Arnault, the prize consists in a €300,000 grant and a year of "coaching" from an LVMH executive in areas such as intellectual property (ah-ah, imagine Marc Jacobs teaching you about intellectual property...hilarious; mind you, he should give lessons on topics he is good at such as how to avoid copyright issues while still infringing intellectual property rights...), marketing, production and distribution. The LVMH Prize will also award three young graduates of fashion design schools, who will each receive a €10,000 grant and have a chance to join the design team at an LVMH brand for one year.

While we all need money, especially young designers and graduates, you wonder where will the old acquisition strategy of these huge groups lead these young brands. Will they be allowed to grow up intellectually and professionally or will they just be marionettes in the hands of a predatory puppet master?

Ni-hao, Krizia

It's simply tragicomical that, right when animals become fashionable again on dresses and jumpers, the Italian queen of animal knits gets sold to China.

Details of the transaction will be finalised in late Spring, but for now we know that Shenzhen Marisfrolg's owner, entrepreneur Zhu Chongyun, will become chairperson and creative director of the brand, while the debut collection is scheduled to appear at next year's fashion week in Milan (where the brand will still be based).

The revamping plan also includes opening new flagship stores in China, and reopening in Europe, Japan and the U.S.

Mandelli used to reference a lot art and architecture in her creations, borrowing from Malevich and Warhol (who also portrayed her), designing for the stage as it happened in the '80s when she created the costumes for Antonio Syxty's Famiglia Horror (Horror Family; a play with sets by Alessandro Mendini and music by Franco Battiato). Interested in literature, Mandelli also bought a share in a publishing house in 1984, mainly because she loved the women writers included in its catalogue (Woolf, Stein, Sackville West and Blixen among the others).

As Italians say "arrivederci" to Krizia, and the Chinese market welcomes it with a "ni-hao", you can already see more or less a disastrous future ahead (I mean an entrepreneur as Creative Director? You joking?). Ah, Famiglia Horror indeed.

Older and (Maybe) Finally Wiser

Oops, she did it again. Anna Wintour the ruler dictating Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (Italian Chamber of Fashion) how many days Milan Fashion Week should last, and putting pressure on Italian designers to showcase their collections on the dates she fancies the most, finally managed to piss off Giorgio Armani.

Armani's show was scheduled on the last day of the Milanese fashion week (the only major label scheduled on the last day) and Wintour missed it leaving early. During a post-show press conference, Armani stated "There are some who prefer to snub the Giorgio Armani show and go to Paris… She took an airplane, dumped Mr. Armani and went to Paris."

Armani's sources were wrong, though, as Wintour wasn't heading to Paris for the local fashion week, but went to London where she was spotted having lunch with Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s chief creative officer and chief executive-designate.

Rather than vapidly complaining, Armani should have just told the press, "who gives a shit about Anna Wintour?". Yet the fact he dared to complain is actually a good sign, since, at last, he is finally reacting and he may have even realised he has been consistently photographed in the last few years next to a money thirsty vampire.

The designer also criticised Italian brands that focus on fantasy rather than on function as their approach could be "really dangerous", pointing out how the media mainly end up talking about collections that are not produced nor sold (well, that's a key point actually...) adding "It's very easy to do a V-neck dress with a bold print. It's more difficult to make a suit or a jacket look new.". Older and (maybe) finally wiser?